About

Christopher Harris

My work explores abstract coastal landscapes through painting, drawing and printmaking, inspired by the cliffs, rocks, shorelines and changing colours of the South Wales coast. I create contemporary landscape art that uses abstraction, colour, texture, form and expressive mark-making to capture the character and atmosphere of coastal environments.

Porthcawl, my hometown in South Wales, has been a particularly important influence on my work. The cliffs and sculptural rock formations around Rest Bay and the wider Welsh coastline provide an ongoing source of ideas. Although I now live and work in Leeds, I regularly return to the coast, taking photographs, videos and making drawings that become the starting point for new paintings and prints.

Drawing is an important part of my practice. I draw regularly in my studio, using these studies to explore shapes, composition, colour and movement before developing them into abstract landscape paintings and prints. The drawings also exist as works in their own right, offering a more immediate and spontaneous response to the coastal landscape.

My paintings, drawings and prints are not intended as literal representations of particular places. Instead, I use the landscape as a starting point for abstract interpretations of the coast and seascape, exploring the relationship between colour, form, texture and atmosphere.

My work sits within contemporary abstract landscape and coastal art, drawing on the visual qualities of the sea, cliffs, rocks and shoreline while allowing the process of painting and drawing to shape the final image.

I studied at Middlesex University, the Royal College of Art and the University of Leeds, and spent many years teaching art and design in Higher Education.